Tire Discounters Inc. marked the opening of a store in Mt. Juliet, Tenn., and its entry into the Tennessee market by donating more than 18,000 pairs of shoes and $10,000 to a Nashville-based nonprofit that provides shoes and clothes to victims of natural disasters.

Tire Discounters collected shoes in all store locations for Soles 4 Souls during a “reTire Your Kicks” promotion, its first company-wide initiative to support a new region.

Chip Wood, founder and chairman of Tire Discounters, and members of the Tire Discounters team presented the shoes and cash donation to Soles 4 Souls at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new store in Mt. Juliet.

“Many loyal Tire Discounters customers who have relocated to this area have been asking us to come to Nashville, so we listened to them and have come to meet their automotive service needs,” says Wood.

“We are built on business practices that keep our customers coming back time and again, and we are thrilled to bring those to Nashville.”

To date, Tire Discounters has hired 35 Nashville residents. The company plans to open 16 greater Nashville locations by Dec. 2015 and create between 200 and 215 jobs by 2016.

Tire Discounters operates in six markets across four states, employs more than 900 people and is No. 9 on the MTD 100.